Our Lady of Good Counsel Window, Trim

The rose window at the south end of St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Trim, is being illuminated during Advent and Christmas this year, 2019, making it visible from outside after dark. This window, installed in 1904 just after the church was officially opened, was never fully visible from the inside because of the organ. The parish priest of the time, Fr Michael Woods, and the architect, William Byrne, asked that only the top portion of the window contain stained glass since the rest would be obscured by the organ.

The subject of the window was Our Lady of Good Counsel, a popular devotion at that time as Pope Leo XIII had added that invocation to the litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 22 April 1903. The details of this window were being discussed in correspondence between Fr. Woods and Hardman and Co of Birmingham, who had already provided the sanctuary window in the church, from December 1903 and the window was ordered on 27 April 1904. 

While Fr Woods saved money by not including figurative stained glass in the lower part of the window he was anxious that the visible portion be of “very best and richest glass you can make”. He wrote to Hardman “It will occupy the most prominent part of the Church and will be in full view of people as they leave the Church. As the sun will be shining almost the whole day – the window facing due south, the colours will require to be deep and rich.”

The window has the Our Lady of Good Counsel image, Mary and the child Jesus, in the centre surrounded by the legend, “Mater boni consilii ora pro nobis”(Our Lady of Good Counsel, Pray for us). Five angels play different musical instruments in panels surrounding the centre. There are two angels in panels beneath this with thuribles paying homage to Our Lady and the tops of the three lights have foliage down to where the curved portion meets the straight vertical sides.

The window was erected in October 1904 at a cost £162. A donor contributed £130 stating that the price demanded by Hardman was excessive and Fr Woods paid the balance.

It seems that when the organ was installed some portions of the window without stained glass were visible and when Hardman’s fixer was installing the St. Bridget window in the church in 1914 stained glass was “introduced into West window to hide portions exposed by organ”.  This stained glass seems to consist of random pieces which don’t fit into the general scheme.

A photograph from the National Library of Ireland (above) shows the organ and the visible sections of the window. However a new organ, by Moser of Germany, installed in 1982 hid almost all the original window from the inside.

Lighting the window from inside is a great idea, allowing the window to be seen as Father Woods, who is buried at the side of the church, wished it to be seen.

Trim by Anne and Jake Crinion - A new book.

This new book, Trim, by Anne and Jake Crinion, will be launched on Thursday night next, 10 November at 8pm in the Trim Castle Hotel. The book is published by the History Press in their series, Ireland in Old Photographs, and I have been asked to perform the official launch. As a blow-in to Trim (1970), I feel honoured to have been asked.

From the back of the 122-page book: "Founded in the fifth century and nestled on the banks of the Boyne, the historic and picturesque town of Trim has a rich and vibrant history which is uniquely captured in this collection of archive images. Many of the photographs were taken by Anne Crinion, a freelance photographer for many years. Featuring local landmarks, people and snapshots of ordinary daily routines, each accompanied by a detailed caption, they portray the development of the town and show how life here has changed over the years".

Tommy Murray R.I.P.

Very sad news here in Trim with the announcement of the sudden death of poet and author, a good friend of Boyne Writers, Tommy Murray.

Tommy was well known, not only in Meath but all over the country, was widely published and had won many awards. He had just announced on his blog that Skylight poets are including one of his poems in their new magazine which will be launched in Galway in January. He read in Navan Library on the recent All Ireland Poetry Day (picture above).

He was the leader of Meath Writers Circle and a tutor in Navan Library of creative writing classes. His classes of younger writers have published many volumes of their poetry and prose. Indeed the launch of the latest Meath Juniors Writers Anthology, the fifth, was fixed for Thursday 15 November and recently Tommy asked me to speak at the launch.

Tommy contributed a foreword to the first issue of Boyne Berries and his poetry was included in many issues. His leadership of his Meath Writers Circle team at the annual Battle of the Books made that event a most enjoyable and keenly looked-forward to event. His own contributions were always a highlight of the contests.

He published his first poetry collection Something Beginning with Spring in 1989 with an introduction by John B. Keane. Recently two of his books of poetry have been published by Lapwing, Counting Stained Glass Windows in 2009 and Swimming with Dolphins earlier this year. He also published a large number of books of local history. He was also a frequent and sometimes controversial contributor to Focus, Trim's local news magazine.

He will be sorely missed in Trim and beyond.

We offer our condolences to his wife, Josephine, his family and wide circle of friends.

Poetry Collection Launch. And finally . . .

Everything ready?
More or less.
Which, more or less?
Well . . . The books are printed.
You've seen them?
No the editor is bringing them on Monday.
So you haven't spotted the typo yet?
What typo?
There's allways a typo.
And your speech is ready?
Speech, what speech? I'm the poet not an orator.
They will expect a speech.
What sort of a speech?
Why you write poetry.
When you write poetry.
How you write poetry.
Oh! But that's what the poems are for.
Yes but what do they mean?
You have to read them.
No way, just tell us what they mean, then we'll read them.
Well, I'll introduce each one.
That's good. And some will want to know if it's you.
Who?
The fellow in the poem.
What???
You know the "I" in the poems. 
The fellow who is tired of life, scared of death, is very religious, believes in nothing, hates modern Ireland, loves modern Ireland, loves Irish history, loves books, loves Britain, supports Manchester United.
Hey hold on. Who is that odd character?
You, judging by your poetry.
But they're only poems. They're not autobiography.
I'm disappointed, you sounded such an interesting character.
Come along and judge for yourself. 8pm Monday 21 May, Castle Arch Hotel, Trim.
Asking for Directions.
The hotel is near the traffic lights on the Summerhill Road, not to be confused with the Trim Castle Hotel.
Asking for Directions by Michael Farry, published by Doghouse Books.
Oh yes, I forgot.

All Ireland Poetry Day

First this morning we have the Poetry in the Cathedral event in St Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral, Trim at 11pm. According to the Poetry Ireland website this is the only event for the day in Co Meath so we have no idea how many will attend. We will bring along some anthologies of poetry so that attendees can pick poems to read if they wish. The cathedral is a superb venue, old stonework and years of history behind it.

What to read in a cathedral? I have a few poems which have religious references in them, me serving Mass, a religious carving (left) I saw in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London etc. I might read some of those.

Then at 8pm in the Cavan Crystal Hotel, Cavan town, there is the launch of the Windows Publications Introductions Series No 9 which included three of my poems. I haven't seen this book yet but if it is as well presented as previous ones then it should be very good. I may or may not have to read in Cavan - there is a Trim launch in a week.

So a full day of poetry today

Poetry in the Cathedral - All Ireland Poetry Day

All-Ireland Poetry Day, October 1, will be celebrated in Trim this year with a poetry reading session in one of the town’s ‘cool’ venues: St Patrick’s Cathedral, Loman St.

The Boyne Writers Group is organising the event, which takes place at 11am on Thursday next, October 1.

“The Trim event will be a relaxed and very informal occasion,” said Boyne Writers Group chairman Paddy Smith. “Admission is free and it’s open to all. We expect our attendance will be made up of people who simply like poetry – either reading it or listening to it.

“You can drop in for 10 minutes or you can stay for an hour,” he said. “Just remember to duck as you come in through the door of the cathedral – in case you get hit by a stray sonnet or an odd rhyme.”

People are invited to read their favourite poems (from school, for instance), or to read their own work, or to read a poem written by someone they know. “It’s an Open Mic session,” says Paddy. “As you come into the cathedral, write your name down if you wish to read and we’ll call everyone in turn. We’d love it if people brought two or three poems each, although if a big crowd turns up we may have to confine the readings to just one poem each.

“We in the Boyne Writers Group would like to thank Rev Robert Jones for so readily agreeing to allow us to use St Patrick’s Cathedral for the readings. It’s one of the coolest ‘spaces’ in the town and I’ve always wanted to attend something there. This is it!”

God's Direct Line Gone!

The poster at the Trim bus shelter advertising God's Direct Line (Tuesday 10 Feb post) has been replaced by another advertising the same service.

This is more like advertising as we know it - bland, cliched, uninteresting, dispiriting - using images and references which are so overused and unimaginative that the use of the cliches in advertising is itself a cliche. The image is ridiculous without being amusing - the coat and hat from the first half of the last century with the glass which relates to the end of the century before last. And the car?

No not in a bad mood today just dislike having to look at this rubbish. Just turn left and this is the scene. Ah that's better. Maybe this is God's direct line.